Foldable ironing table



y 6, 1936. c. w. SADENWATER 2,042,074

FOLDABLE IRON ING TABLE Filed July 29, 1935 INVENTOR CHARLES TM SADENWATER ATTORNEY Patented May 26, 1936 LMLGM FOLDABLE IRONING TABLE CharlesW. Sadenwater, Saginaw, Mich., assignor to Saginaw Manufacturing (30., Saginaw, Mich, a corporatien of Michigan Application July 29, 1935, Serial No. 33,664

1 Claim.

This invention relates to folding ironing tables 7 and the like, and pertains more particularly to improved means for bracing the rear legs.

My improvement is especially well adapted to be applied to an ironing table of the kind described below, a complete description of which can be found in Patents Nos. 1,625,556 and 1,628,773, to Henry J. Gilbert.

The present invention may be considered as .a reconstruction and simplification of the earlier types of devices for spreading and bracing the rear legs, and its purpose is to reduce the cost in quantity production, to employ a less number of hinge bearings attached to the board, thereby saving expense in assembling, and to impart to the table an unusual degree of stability.

The rear leg spreading and bracing device herein described is simpler than the structures heretofore employed, since it enables a single pivot on the board to be used not only as a hinge pintle for a rear leg, but also as a pivot for a diagonal brace.

Moreover, the locking truss frame is utilized in a novel manner as a lever or toggle member whereby the rear legs are spread and held firmly in their spread position.

In my improvement, desirable crosswise and lengthwise stability is imparted to the table by a novel arrangement and mode of operation of transverse rear leg braces, as will now be described and later claimed.

Fig. l is a bottom view of an ironing table, folded, embodying my improvement.

Fig. 2 is a view of the table, erected.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary bottom View showing a modified arrangement of the rear leg braces.

Fig. 4 is a rear view, showing the parts illustrated in Fig. 3, in erected position.

Figs. 5 and 6 are alternative forms of the rear leg braces.

A board, I, is equipped with foldable rear legs 2, 3, and a front leg 4, the latter being hinged to the board I by a pin 40. in bracket 4b. The front leg 4 and rear legs 2, 3 are mutually braced by connecting rods 5, 5 pivoted at 5a, 5b.

Rear leg hinge members 8, 8, secured to the under side of board I, are arranged and adapted to permit the rear legs 2, 3 to lie within the opposite margins of the board when folded, as shown in Fig. 1, and to spread outwardly away from each other, beyond the vertical planes of such margins, when extended as shown in Figs. 2 and 4. A broad footing is thus given to the table.

The rear legs 2, 3 are additionally braced by locking truss members 6, 6, which are pivoted to the rear legs at 5b, 5b. The forward ends l of truss members 6, 6 converge and are secured to pintles i3, 9, that project in opposite directions from the side Walls of a tubular sleeve H3. The sleeve embraces the front leg 4 and slides along it toward the hinge la when the table is being erected, and away therefrom when folded.

Referring to the embodiment shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 6, claimed herein, it will be seen that a diagonal brace member, II, is provided for each rear leg 2, 3, being arranged and operating in the following novel manner:

A pivot i2 is provided on each locking truss member 6, being spaced a short distance from the pivotal connection, 51), of member 6 to the rear leg. The brace member 5 I, made of a metal rod, is bent to present at one end the pivot 12, and at the other end a pintle, 8a, for hinge memher 8. Preferably, braces H are made of yieldable metal so that they can spring or bow somewhat when subjected to the stress produced in them by the lever action of the truss rods 6.

The pintle 8a may be integral with brace H, as shown in the views mentioned. Alternatively, the braces He may be pivoted to angle lugs 31) shown in Figs. 3, 4, and 5, the angle lugs being pivoted to a pintle of the hinge member 8. This form of my invention is claimed in my copending divisional application Serial No. 59,921, filed January 20, 1936.

In any case, the pivots, 8a, 8b, of the rear leg braces H, Ila, are alined with the pintles of the leg hinges 8, or substantially so, instead of being axially offset, thereby distinguishing from earlier structures in which the pivots of the leg braces were located rearwardly of the axial line defined by the two rear leg pivots.

The legs, 2, 3, when erected, are kept in their spread position and are rigidly sustained against crosswise racking tendencies or lateral stresses to which they maybe subjected in use, by utilizing the locking truss frame members 6, 5 to produce the required leverage.

On either locking truss member 6, the linear distance from pivot I2 to the opposite rear leg pivot 8 adjacent the board designates the longer leg of what may be termed an eccentric toggle, the other and shorter leg of which is measured along the truss frame member 6, being the distance from pivot l2 to pivot 5b.

The advantage of that toggle-like arrangement will be apparent upon noting, in Fig. 1, that the point [2, where the diagonal brace II is pivoted to the truss rod 6, lies to the left of the leg pivot 5b, and consequently, while the table is being erected, the said pivot 12 must move around in the arc of a circle relatively to the rear leg. During such arcuate movement of pivot l2, the straight-line distance between pivots 8a and 51) becomes longer. The rear legs 2, 3 are thereby caused to spread as they move from folded position to erected position.

The rotational movements and toggle-like effects just described necessarily occur whenever the sleeve I is slid along the front leg 4 toward or away from the front leg hinge 4a, as in unfolding the table. The leverage exerted by the truss rods is strong and positive and when the sleeve I5 is in the position shown in Fig. 2, where it may be held in any suitable type of spring catch, the locking truss rods 6, 6, not only hold the rear legs against racking longitudinally, but are also utilized to stress the braces II, Ila. and prevent further spreading of the legs 2, 3.

It has been pointed out that the pivotal connections of the diagonal braces H and board I should be coaxial with the pivotal connections 8 of the rear legs and the board I, or substantially so.

In earlier devices the spreading and bracing of askew, as shown in the patents alluded to, and sometimes the axial line of the rear leg pivots was located in offset relation to the axial line of the pivots of the diagonal braces in order to get the leverage for spreading the legs and requiring an unnecessary number of hinges and brackets on the board, which condition has been improved and simplified by the improvements above described, and the stability of the table structure has been increased.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A spreading and'bracing device for the hinged rear legs of a foldable ironing table having a truss member pivotally connected to the legs, said device comprising, in combination, pivots in substantially axial alinement with the hinges of said rear legs, a pivot on each locking truss member spaced from the above-mentioned pivotal connnection, rear leg braces, each consisting of a rod-like member having ends bent and offset to present the said axially alined pivot and the said spaced pivot, respectively, said brace connecting one of said axially alined pivots with the diagonally opposite spaced pivot on the locking truss member.

CHARLES W. SADENWATER. 

